Communicating well with a congregation especially is critical to healing after collective trauma. You can learn more about communication and guides for communication with congregations and staffs in our Resource Guides, available on the ICTG Training page.

As ICTG directors and advisors – in our experience as leaders who have deployed to post-disaster sites, as leading scholars in the fields of pastoral theology, congregational care, spiritual formation, and youth ministry, and as professionals certified in critical incident debriefing – we have found the following practices most helpful following collective trauma:

As soon as possible, once it is clear everyone is out of harm's way, gather to mourn collective losses. Often this is accomplished through vigils and prayer services. These gatherings may occur on the first night or second evening following the incident. Here's one pastor's experience of planning and participating in prayer vigils following significant community unrest. They should be focused on naming what occurred, including basic facts (and avoiding any exaggerations or assumptions), and providing various ways to express loss including time for both spoken and silent prayers, songs, and lighting candles (or some another form of non-verbal expression that is meaningful to the congregation).

At the first worship service following the first gathering to mourn, the congregation is looking to hear from the main or senior minister and they are looking to hear a sermon focused on what just happened and how to mourn together. Here's one pastor's experience of how trauma changed everything in the days and weeks that followed. The incident should be referred to directly, prayed about, and any new information or guides for finding out information should be made clear.

Plan and publicize 2-4 congregational meetings. They need to occur at times convenient for congregants to attend. If your congregation includes families with young children, it is especially helpful if you provide free and reliable child care for these meetings. Also, invite junior high and high schoolers to attend these meetings, if they are interested. Depending on the type of incident that occurred, invite 1-2 professionals to attend with training specific to the type of incident that occurred. Have them provide general information about these types of incidents. Also, make sure to have a youth leader on hand for youth who show up. The youth should not be segregated in the aftermath of crises. They need to hear from the main or senior minister as well as any professionals who are invited to participate. After the congregational meeting, youth leaders may find it helpful to gather their youth for a few minutes to answer any further questions or provide information about how youth group meetings will occur in the following days and weeks. For all attending the congregational meetings, in most cases of human-caused disaster (i.e., shootings, stabbings, sexual abuse, etc.), few facts will be readily available while an investigation is going on. However, a police officer or social worker will be able to inform the congregation about how investigations tend to go and what cases like these tend to involve. Often that general information is very helpful and calms some anxiety. Hosting multiple meetings over 2-4 weeks, allows congregants to attend at least one or two if they are not able to attend them all and they allow the opportunity for sharing updates as new information becomes available.

Somewhere near the 3-month, 6-month and 9-month timelines, publicize and host a small gathering for prayer and healing for anyone who would self-select to attend. These should not be forced events, and numbers of attendees are not important. Even if no one attends, in our experience we still see hosting them as important. Many times, congregants report feeling comforted knowing a meeting was occurring even when they did not have the strength or courage to attend personally at that time. At each of these gatherings, and in publications about them, include information for how congregants and visitors can seek out sources for healing on their own, as well as through these gatherings, including local listings for reputable counselors, spiritual directors, prayer groups, and clinical agencies.

Healing from trauma, and from collective trauma,takes time. Generally, leaders in the field have found that groups or communities take about 18 - 24 months to begin to feel some semblance of new normals. Be patient and kind with yourself as a minister and with your congregants. Throughout this time, and as the congregation learns to focus on other aspects of purpose and mission alongside their healing, continue to encourage safety and honesty, making space for the spectrum of people who include everyone from those who are able to experience healing sooner to those who experience it later.

Mark the anniversary with a service of prayer and healing. Remind congregants that likely, as in most cases, they are still on the road to healing. But this marker often also provides some senses of hope and encouragement because it serves as a point for congregants to see how far they have come.

Some congregations find they are ready to mark a positive mission initiative around the second anniversary. At this point, they recognize together that though they have not forgotten their loss, their loss also does not solely define who they are as a community and they are ready also to focus on areas of new growth and expansion.

These are some of the tips we've gathered over the years and shared with one another. You may have found other points helpful too. Or, perhaps you experienced times or circumstances where these points needed correction for your community. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to share your experience, wisdom, and questions in the comments below.

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With over fifteen years serving as a pastoral therapist and congregational care consultant, Rev. Dr. Kate Wiebe is the Executive Director of ICTG. She lives with her family in Santa Barbara, CA.

Whenever I am invited to a self-care workshop, I always bring this question: “What are your defense mechanisms when you feel stressful or overwhelmed?” Asking this question provides a great opportunity to turn the participants’ discussion into a meaningful conversation and sharing of intense feelings, difficult relational experiences, and painful trauma in their lives. It offers us a moment to understand defense mechanisms as a normal part of our everyday lives. We have been surprised there are so many different ways to avoid the things that we don’t want to think about or deal with. We often joke with each other about our similarities, differences, or the multiple uses we have for our various defense mechanisms. It always becomes part of the important healing process to be aware of our defense mechanisms and is a way to learn about ourselves through our defense mechanism.Then, I always like to introduce for the congregation one special defense mechanism, by Job in Job 23. This story is set in the midst of Job’s dialogue with his so-called friends. Job had experienced the loss of his family, friends, wealth, and everything else he had in his life. The wife had even said to him, “Just curse God and die!”. He had endured all kinds of losses. Further, in Job 23, he suffered because God was eluding him. He couldn’t feel that God was hearing his pain. Job only experienced God’s silence in the midst of his sufferings. Job cried out his anguish and deep frustration in the face of the absence of God. Job felt isolated and far from God. In verses 8-9, Job writes, “If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; 9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.” Job’s defense mechanism was to cry out, lament, doubt and even complain to God about the experiencing God’s abandonment.Sometimes, I hear people decide not to be a person of faith any longer because of their experience of God’s absence in the midst of human sufferings, such as the horrible suffering of children, terrorism, war, the issue of poverty, etc. They ask me: “If God is here, how can God let those things happen?” Or too often, people just resign themselves to their misfortune, saying: “It must be the Lord’s will; I guess we'll just have to accept it.” Or, people just abandon faith in God altogether. However, Job offers a different way -- the defense mechanism of the faith. He is unwilling to accept suffering passively, but he also refuses to abandon his faith! He argued with God and looked for the meaning of his suffering with God. In Job 23:10, Job writes, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.” It means we complain, lament, and cry with God, we also are continuing our personal relationship with God and devotion to God, and almost never give up hope in the midst of suffering. Job knew that when his sufferings were over, he would emerge from them stronger and brighter than ever before.However, some congregations have only learned to ignore their trauma or pains, unfortunately. They have been forced in the idea that good Christians don’t complain anything. Some pastors preach that if you had strong faith, you would not cry and lament, but would be grateful or joyful. They have learned not to question and have doubts about their life situations. They learned that good Christians can handle anything and have firm faith, as if they are being almighty like God. In the Church, expressing struggles or trauma is often regarded as a sign of weakness or inadequate faith. Some congregations have only practiced being silent about their sufferings rather than to arguing with God and seeking meaning in their sufferings.Unfortunately, many pastors do not often realize that their congregations have different defense mechanisms in order to protect themselves when a church goes through different traumas, painful terror, financial struggles, loss, etc. The congregation as one body of the community tries to forget and deny what really happened in the past. Congregations work together to achieve numbness to repress painful or uncomfortable feelings. Sometimes, congregations take out their frustrations or anger on their pastors when they have had really bad experiences. Sometimes, congregations try to focus on using various programs to take away their trauma. Many of them could not even have a faithful chance to cry out, lament, or even to complain with God like Job did.Are pastors or congregations really aware of the defense mechanisms in their community? Can we as pastors or congregations actively argue with God and ask God the meaning of our suffering by congregational trauma? Do you have the faith to allow congregations to complain, lament, and cry out with God in the middle of our great despairs? Do we really try to understand the defense mechanisms in our congregation?Knowing about our congregations’ defense mechanisms invites healing and the embrace of our congregational trauma as part of a spiritual practice of wholeness. ​

Rev. AHyun Lee is serving the Mayville United Methodist Church in the Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church. She is a graduate of Garrett Evangelical-Theological Seminary (Ph.D.) and Wesley Theological Seminary (M.Div.). Her research focuses on transnational and multicultural pastoral counseling in global and postcolonial contexts. AHyun is the Coordinator of the Asian and Asian American Ministry Center at Garrett-Evangelical. She has a strong passion for empowering people's voice and their narratives for serving psychological and spiritual care for people in the church, conference, community and the world.

"How do life experiences in childhood end up
​with disease states half a century later?"

ACEs stands for the Adverse Childhood Experience Study. If you've been following this blog, you know we talk about them frequently. To learn more about them, you might try visiting our list of trauma term films where you will find a TED talk by a prominent pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris that explains why ACEs matter to communities and how medical professionals are beginning to address the massive problem. You also can find out more about the ACE study origins here, as well as learn about an ever-expanding network of professionals who utilize this study in their own settings here.

Perhaps most profound about the ACE study – besides the significant fact that it demonstrated trauma does not discriminate and exists in every community in the country – is the strong correlation it demonstrated between childhood experiences and adult onset illnesses.

​The ACE study found that survivors of childhood trauma are nearly 5000% (yes, you read all those zeros correctly) more likely to attempt suicide, have eating disorders, or become IV drug users. In the video below, Dr. Vincent Felitti, the study's founder and co-conductor, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, details this remarkable and powerful connection.

With an ACE score of six – experiencing any six of the ten categories that we studied – that person was 4,600% more likely to become an IV drug user than a person who experienced none of those six categories. Now you read in the newspaper the latest cancer cure of the week – prostate cancer or breast cancer increases 30% and everyone goes nuts – I'm talking 4,600% increase. The same ACE score of six produces a likelihood of attempting suicide between 3,100% and 5,000% greater than the likelihood of suicide attempts in someone with none of those life experiences. So the power of this relationship is enormous.

The magnitude of this correlation, and the complexity of dealing with the problem of severe stress in childhood after the fact is so huge, Dr. Felitti, says, realistically the only serious and effective approach is going to have to involve primary prevention. He admits, "No one knows how to do that, but it's the right question to focus on."

At ICTG, we recognize that congregations are prime locations for not only putting that question at the forefront but also for providing primary prevention. Besides becoming a trauma-informed congregation by creating a culture marked by specific traits, trauma-informed congregations also can incorporate preventative measures into their common practices.

Trauma Informed Congregational Practices for Prevention

​Create policies for safety (see our previous post for links to tools for measuring safety among your congregation and creating policies) and keep them up-to-date

Have a staff person dedicated to keeping well-educated on best responses to trauma and providing sound management of fellow staff members and lay leaders

Keep all staff and lay leader volunteers well informed about current mandatory reporting laws and expectations

Maintain an up-to-date and vetted referral base for local counselors, social workers, and spiritual directors

Provide ongoing studies, prayer groups, and education classes that make use of best trauma response practices and understandings

Dedicate specific annual worship service(s) for providing safe practices of prayer, confession, sacraments, or healing rituals for staff and members to acknowledge privately or corporately the existence of trauma among the community and seek restoration.

Ideally, congregations are safe havens – healing sanctuaries – from life's storms. They are the place where worship, confession, prayer and mission derive from true restoration of body, mind, and spirit in community. Every day, you are invited into making it so.

​Share your stories in the comments below about how you see healing from ACEs happening in your congregation.

With over 15 years experience as a pastoral therapist and congregational care consultant, Rev. Dr. Kate Wiebe serves as the ICTG Executive Director. She lives with her family in Santa Barbara, CA. ​

The Religious Institute is a multifaith organization dedicated to advocating for sexual health, education, and justice in faith communities and society. They define sexually healthy and responsible congregations as ones being free from sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual misconduct. They measure sexual health and responsibility among congregations and seminaries by the existence of explicit policies, procedures, and practices that keep children, youth and vulnerable adults safe from abuse and harassment. They recommend strong codes of conduct among religious professionals and clear safeguards for clergy and congregants to ensure safety for all.

In past years they recognized how few clergy-preparation schools incorporated sexual education and policy into their institutional culture. For example, according to their research thirty-one leading seminaries and rabbinical schools now meet a majority of the criteria for a sexually healthy and responsible seminary, compared to only ten in 2009. The Religious Institute evaluates each institution on criteria measures including sexuality content in curriculum, institutional commitment to sexuality and gender equity (e.g., the existence of anti-discrimination, sexual harassment and inclusion policies), and advocacy and support for sexuality-related issues.

Here were some conclusions from the report:

More than 90% of the seminaries surveyed do not require full-semester, sexuality-based courses for graduation

Two-thirds of the seminaries do not offer a course in sexuality issues for religious professionals.

Seminaries offer three times as many courses in women's and feminist studies as they do in LGBT studies or other sexuality-related issues.

Two blogs ago we began a series on the intersection of cognitive development and response to trauma in the lives adolescents. We started with early adolescence and then moved to middle adolescence. In this blog we focus on late adolescence with special reference to college age people.

As stated before, in the given stages of adolescence there will always be exceptions to the broad characteristics of cognitive development based on any number of outliers in the life of the adolescent including: family of origin, present life context, past trauma and much more.For the sake of this discussion I will be writing about the typical college student or late adolescent and the characteristics commonly defining his or her stage of cognitive development.

At this age we continue with the formal operational stage of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. This is the fourth and final stage. The ability to grapple with abstract thinking continues accelerating along with the emergence of other characteristics peculiar to this stage in life.

For many it is easy to believe once an adolescent graduates high school they have officially “arrived” as an adult. Brain development research over many years suggests otherwise. Studies show us that full brain development does not occur until age 25, three years after the typical college student graduates! National Geographic reported a National Institute of Health study that “showed that our brains undergo a massive reorganization between our 12th and 25th years. The brain doesn't actually grow very much during this period. It has already reached 90 percent of its full size by the time a person is six, and a thickening skull accounts for most head growth afterward. But as we move through adolescence, the brain undergoes extensive remodeling, resembling a network and wiring upgrade.”

Let us take a look at a few characteristics of this stage, make a few observations on how it may play out in the post-trauma situation and suggest a few action points in our care of the college age person.

Pondering global concepts – The late adolescent thinks more about politics, history, justice and larger world issues

Entertaining idealistic thinking – The college age person develops more idealistic thoughts about issues and concerns. Douglas Hyde, in his book, DEDICATION AND LEADERSHIP, described how Communist Leadership loved to capitalize on the idealism of the late adolescent in their recruiting strategies.

Fighting opposing views – The late adolescent may want to refute or even be intolerant of opposing views. The ability to think about thinking opens one to all types of divergent opinions and the ability to reject them.

Thinking about career decisions – The typical late adolescent is in college and considering a career or vocational path of some type. Formal operational thinking allows them the opportunity to begin taking the “aerial view of their life,” seeing the larger picture.

Being aware of his/her emerging adulthood – We often call this age young adulthood and some days this would be accurate! But, as we mentioned earlier the brain is not completely developed until age 25 so adolescence is still very much present. The college age person is aware they are peering into the world of adulthood and so one’s thinking straddles the playfulness of adolescence and the need to settle on impactful early adulthood choices.

APPLICATIONSWhat are the applications we might be putting into play in times of trauma with this age group? I do not claim to be an expert of cognitive development but working on the front lines with youth I again offer the following practical thoughts.

Pondering global concepts – The late adolescent not only feels the trauma in their local setting but may now be feeling it in many different world situations. Access to social media and internet open up the world to experience trauma in real time and through the lens of people “on the ground.” His or her sense of justice and understanding of politics adds to the depth he or she may experience the tragedy. Be aware of this as you debrief particular events and help the late adolescent make connections where appropriate.

Entertaining idealistic thinking – While looking at the world with a “can-do” lens can be productive it could also be a liability for the late adolescent in the way they respond to trauma in their life. This may play out in three ways:

“One and done” – “I experienced that tragedy so I won’t experience it again.”

“Fix it” – “I experienced a trauma and I am strong enough to get through it on my own.”

“This is not the end” – “I can cope as I reach out and seek the help of others.” Listen for these different responses, walk with the person toward #3 and capitalize on his or her idealism to go forward.

Fighting opposing views – The college age person may not want to hear the different witness accounts or ideas for responding to their trauma. This new ability to practice complex thought often leaves them with the impression they have it all figured out or will figure it out individually. Where he or she is given unhealthy information or advice this opposition can become an asset! You can be an encourager for welcoming all advice and then coaching toward healthy discernment.

Thinking about career decisions – As the late adolescent contemplates the future it is possible this thinking will be a healthy piece of carrying him or her through trauma. It will point to life beyond the valley where one is standing in the post-traumatic situation. Be a mentor or help identify an older mentor so the late adolescent may look beyond the present and imagine the future.

Being aware of his/her emerging adulthood – With this vantage point the late adolescent can be aware there is a lot more life ahead and in that way buoy themselves to pursue healthy therapy and coping in response to the trauma experience. This perspective also affords the late adolescent with the realization that other adults have “survived” similar traumas and gone on to live healthy and productive lives. Helping the late adolescent to invite caring adults, who are ahead of him or her “on the road” gives hope and a sense of not being alone.

You may have more applications. Feel free to add those in the comment section.

Doug Ranck is associate pastor of youth and worship at Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara, CA. With three decades of youth ministry experience, he serves as ICTG Program Director for Youth Ministry, as well as a leading consultant, trainer and speaker with Ministry Architects, the Southern California Conference, and, nationally, with the Free Methodist Church. He has written numerous articles for youth ministry magazines and websites, and published the Creative Bible Lessons Series: Job (Zondervan, 2008). Doug is happily married to Nancy, proud father of Kelly, Landon and Elise, and never gets tired of looking at the Pacific ocean every day. ​​